How Global Trade Pacts Award ‘Subsidies’ for Climate Pollution

May 2020

trade barriers

Bloomberg

A new working paper by Joseph Shapiro, Energy Institute Faculty Affiliate, finds that several countries have unequal rates for dirty versus clean carbon industries, Bloomberg reports.

“He found it was worth between $550 billion and $800 billion a year—more than direct subsidies such as tax incentives paid by governments to big emitters in 2007. ‘This research is pointing out that different sets of policies that seem completely separate—trade policy and climate change—are connected quite closely in ways people might not have noticed,’ Shapiro said in an interview.”

Read More on Trade Barriers in AxiosScience News, Newsbreak, the Washington Examiner (Article 1 and  Article 2), PhysOrg, the Daily Californian, The Energy Mix, Berkeley News, The Real News Network, PatchCarbon PulseThe Real NewsEnergy Post, and The Niskanen Center

Photo: Ian Waldie, bloomberg.com